Alexander Höptner recently said he expects that five developing nations will accept Bitcoin as a Legal Tender. Expected to take effect by the end of 2022, acceptance will be possible due to political views, inflation and money from people in the diaspora.
Remittances
More than three million Salvadorans are living abroad, mainly in the US. Significantly, 23% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes from citizens’ money abroad sent home.
Thousands of households (roughly 300000) are beneficiaries of remittances. The system that operates these funds charges a mean of ten percent to send cash.
Since Bitcoin works as a decentralized system with fast and low-fee transactions, as a result, these features will interest many citizens.
Price Inflations
When prices go high, maybe because of an increase in the cost of production, the developing countries get most affected.
Adopting Bitcoin as a currency could be beneficial for third-world countries as they face the most significant challenge when it comes to inflation.
Politics
Just like El Salvador‘s president, Bukele, politicians, and rulers have the power to make Bitcoin a tender or not. Every leader wants to move with the “new age”; therefore, blockchain seems the way to go as many young people continue to invest.
The danger that lies in politics playing a significant role in Crypto is that if these leaders fail, it could lead to failure in the adoption process of the entire Crypto market.
Alexander Hoptner’s thoughts on Bitcoin as a Currency
Alexander is the CEO at BitMEX, a Crypto-assets trading platform. HDR Global Trading Ltd. wholly owns and operates the company.
Commenting on El Salvador’s new Bitcoin law, Alexander supported the move saying Critics don’t see that developing countries are opening doors for the world to get into Crypto.
According to BitMEX CEO, the move by El Salvador deserves applause and not ridicule. The reason is that the company did not get rid of the US dollar but decided to venture into new options.
Following El Salvador’s Footsteps
These five countries would follow El Salvador’s example. The country recently made history and became the first country to accept Bitcoin as a legal currency alongside the US dollar.
The president declared the law effective as of last month.
Many people took to the streets protesting against the new Bitcoin law. The majority of them claimed it would make the country unstable and prices inflated. Notably, according to a poll carried out, the majority of El Salvador’s citizens support it.
According to Nayib Bukele, the country’s president, however, this new development would allow El Salvadoran citizens in the diaspora to send money home easily.
Bottomline: Alexander Höptner
Adoption of Crypto as a Legal Tender is quite a big step for developing countries. You can either win or lose and therefore, it is more of a leap of faith. El Salvador took this bold step. Let us see what five (according to Alexander Höptner ) countries will use BTC as a legal tender.